Sign of faith: the fish as symbol.

The fish has been both a sacred food and a sacred symbol in a variety of pre-Christian religious cults, from Carthage, Egypt, and Syria, to Eleusis, Greece, and Gaul. It was associated with fertility and abundance. The fish has similar significance in Chinese, Indian, and Japanese traditions. The ancient Jews preferred fish for the meal which ushered in the Sabbath. And it was in the society of fishermen that Jesus established his first circle of disciples.

Christians associate fish with two of the most familiar of Christ's miracles, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes (found in all four Gospels) and the filling of the disciples' nets (Luke 5 and John 21). Although the matter of the Sacrament of the Eucharist has always been bread and wine, in Christian iconography the fish has also assumed a Eucharistic symbolism arising from these miracles of nourishment and bounty. It is thought that the fish may be one of the "secret signs" through which Christians could identify each other during times of persecution.

The fish made its appearance among the earliest Christian iconography, and was current throughout the Christian world by the late second century. It became familiar in two forms--word and picture--and it is not known which appeared first. The Greek word for fish. ("ichthus") also forms an acrostic of the initial letters for the words which mean "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." The use of this acrostic is mentioned in many early Christian writings, and can be found in mosaics, monuments, and jewellery of the period. Its text was used as a doorway phylactery, similar to those still in use by observant Jews today.

The pictorial representation of a fish was also well-established in Christian decorative arts by the second century. Like the acrostic, it is found in mosaics and on sculpted sarcophagi. It is one of the most common of the simple, incised motifs which accompany many epitaphs in the catacombs of Rome and elsewhere (the earliest known example being found in Asia Minor). Fish are often combined with other motifs, such as the anchor, or are formed into designs to suggest concepts like the Holy Trinity. Among the many extant examples of catacomb oil-lamps are some moulded in the shape of fish, with the tail as handle and the mouth as the wick opening.

The fish takes on unique significance where it is incorporated with baskets of bread and/or vessels of wine, adding another dimension to the obvious Eucharistic symbols. These are seen most often in the frescoes which decorate the walls of catacomb chapels and burial chambers. The origin of the Eucharistic association is obscure, but may well be found in a combination of influences: pre-Christian sacral food traditions, the personal roots of the apostles, the Gospel miracles, and a symbolic link to Baptism (being dependent upon water to sustain life). In any event, the fish came to symbolize the very presence of the Savior, inseparable from the Eucharist.

In iconographical portraiture, a fish is often an "attribute" of Tobias, who, guided by the angel Raphael, cured his father's blindness with fishgall. It can also appear with St. Anthony of Padua, who is said to have preached to the fish under the inspiration of his friend, Francis of Assisi. Finally, a fish is sometimes an attribute of St. Peter, the first among the "fishers of men."